When I teach project management and operations classes, I am frequently asked this question: What is ITIL? There seems to be a lot of buzz around this methodology and this buzz exists for good reason. ITIL is like Open Source for technology management.
ITIL stands for Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL). The ITIL is technically a documented set of best practices, but the term is often used to reference the certifications based on the ITIL. When I say that ITIL is like Open Source for technology management, I do not mean that the ITIL books are free. They are, of course, floating around on the Internet in pirated form, but the books are copyrighted and ITIL is a trademark.
My statement about Open Source, simply refers to the fact that ITIL is based in universal best practices. These best practices may not be "best" for every organization, but they are generally accepted in the industry. When the library is updated, many people through the IT and business sectors are involved in order to provide a true set of best practices as opposed to the recommendations of just a few IT managers or CIOs.
The best way to think of ITIL is as a foundation on which you can build the actual service management environment that you need for your organization. The LEAN IT operations model that we developed at The Systems Education Company certainly includes many recommendations that are also included in ITIL; however, because we are more focused on implementing technology as efficiently and effectively as possible, we do not encourage blind exhaustive implementation of ITIL best practices. You will want to ensure that the practices you implement do not cost more than they gain.
This thinking is not unique to ITIL. For example, the Project Management Institute’s project management body of knowledge (PMBOK) should also not be blindly implemented as a strict methodology in and of itself. Instead, we can use it as a foundation on which we build solid project management systems.
So, what is ITIL? It is a fabulous place to start as you build a lean and mean IT operation.
